There’s No “Conservative Case” For The CCSS

I’ve got a new post up at TWIE today arguing that Chester Finn is probably wasting his time trying to make the “conservative case” for the Common Core State Standards.

The basic problem seems to be that Finn assumes that when considering a policy option conservatives should care first and foremost about the merits of that policy. I think that’s basically right and many people who self-identify as “conservative” undoubtedly do as well, but there’s nothing really “conservative” about that attitude. When we talk about “conservative critics of the CCSS” we’re really talking about people who object either out of old-fashioned partisanship or because they’ve got ideological rules about how policy should be developed and implemented.

Arguably naming a bunch of self-identified conservatives who support the CCSS could give some cover to the purely-partisan objectors, but why isn’t it just as plausible that they’d be considered traitors to the conservative cause?